


your hand touching mine. this is how galaxies collide.

by extrastellar



Series: SuperBatFam [11]
Category: DCU, Superboy (Comics), Supergirl (Comics), Superman - All Media Types
Genre: 5+1 Things, M/M, Mild Sexual Content, Superfamily (DCU), aliens in love, superbatfam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2019-11-04
Packaged: 2020-11-23 10:41:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20890784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/extrastellar/pseuds/extrastellar
Summary: Five times Laney made Ry laugh and one time it was the other way around.





	your hand touching mine. this is how galaxies collide.

> **1.**

Everyone who claimed Laney was a shit friend could fuck right off. He was an angel of a friend. He'd make Cassie sign it when he saw her next. Only an angel would willingly agree to look after Mar'i and Jake on their day off.

"I regret everything", Laney grumbled and bounced a wailing Jake.

Kory had to leave for an urgent mission and Dick was undercover in Europe. Also, Kory and Dick were still figuring out how they wanted to split time and custody with the kids after their break-up.

Then, Kory had asked Donna to look after Mar'i and Jake while she was gone. Donna, however, was on another mission with Kyle Rayner. Donna had then called Cassie. Cassie had agreed, but only an hour later she had shown up on Laney's doorstep, shoving Mar'i and Jake into his arms.

"The YJ needs me", she had said, visibly in a rush. "It's just for a couple of hours, their uncle will pick them up at 5."

"And why can't their uncle look after them to begin with?", Laney had asked and caught the baby bag with his TTK. He had not been in the mood for baby entertainment today. Not at all.

"Newsflash", Cassie had said. "You're their uncle, too. By marriage or not, I don't really care. And Kory's brother is still in Chicago, he's coming here asap. Stop being a wuss."

Laney had rolled his eyes and yelled at her to fall out of the sky when she took off.

Their friendship was weird.

That was how Laney had ended up babysitting his Tamaranean-human-hybrid niece and nephew.

"C'mon, Jake", he muttered and lifted the two-year-old up with a scowl. Jake continued to scream.

"Hungry", Mar'i piped up. "Jay's hungry."

"Again?!" Laney stared at the toddler. He had just fed Jake half of the baby food in the bag two hours ago. Kory's brother better showed up soon or the kid would raid his pantry.

"Uh-huh", Mar'i said and started floating to give her little brother a peck. Jake hiccuped at the touch, looked confused for a second, then started screaming again.

Laney was _this_ close to calling Chris. Or any other more qualified member of the giant Kent-Wayne clan. Surely he couldn't be the only one available.

Right?!

He looked at the time on his phone. 4:49pm. 11 minutes to go. He hoped Kory's brother, whoever the guy was, was on time. He saw that Kory had sent a very long message thanking him for looking after the kids and Laney hated himself for tolerating/liking her as much as he did. Shit.

Laney placed Jake on the floor where the boy immediately flipped himself over and kept on crying. The kid was at least not flying yet.

"You better not waddle off", Laney told him and stomped into the kitchen to prepare another jar of baby food. Tamaraneans developed teeth later than humans and relied on soft foods for their first two years of life according to Kom. That at least saved him the trouble of having to prepare an actual toddler-suited meal.

Of course, Jake dug into the food as soon as Laney had squeezed him into a chair and put the bowl in front of him. Laney hadn't noticed that his ears had been ringing from the kid's wailing. Huh.

"I'm hungry too!", Mar'i complained and started flying around Laney's head. His eyeball twitched. "Hungry, hungry, hungry!!!"

4:58pm. Two more minutes.

"Your uncle can feed you."

"You're uncle!!"

"Your _other_ uncle!"

"Which uncle?!"

Laney groaned and tried to walk away, but Mar'i grabbed his hair and pulled.

"Mar'i, fu— stop that!", he snarled and suppressed the urge to push the child away with his TTK.

The doorbell rang and Jake immediately turned around, way too quickly though, and fell off the chair.

Laney dashed over there and managed to catch the toddler a hair's width above the ground. But of course falling had scared the kid and he started crying again.

"Great", Laney growled and absentmindedly registered that Mar'i was clinging to his neck. Apparently, she was not a fan of superspeed. He patted her arm. "Sorry."

The doorbell rang again and Laney shouted "Just a sec!" while opening the door using his TTK.

Laney almost dropped Jake when Kory's brother entered his apartment just as the clock changed to 5:00pm.

"<Holy shit>", Laney muttered in Kryptonese.

Kory's brother was a giant, much taller than Kom. Kory maybe had an inch or two over him and she stood at 6"4. His red hair was in dreads and his green eyes gleamed. Laney's mind immediately flipped to the standards of Tamaranean clothing and he was suddenly glad that Kory's brother had shown up in Terran clothes. Laney wasn't sure what he would have done when confronted with so much glorious, evidently muscled, bare skin. Even then, the violet t-shirt and white skinny jeans did little to conceal that Kory's brother was _fucking shredded_.

"Sorry", Kory's brother said. "Do you speak English? I don't know Kryptonese. Unless you permit me to kiss you?"

Laney blinked, his brain short-circuiting for a moment. "Wha— English. English is fine. Yeah."

"Oh", Kory's brother said and his face lit up. "Great! I am Ryand'r, Prince of Tamaran."

"Ry!", Mar'i squealed and immediately floated over, babbling in Tamaranean.

Kory's brother — Ryand'r — grinned and replied in the same language and shit, Laney had never heard Tamaranean in a male voice apart from Dick's, which carried a thick accent, and Jake's, which didn't count.

Laney briefly cursed Kryptonese for being such a weird language. It was the German of the universe. Tamaranean was the Italian — melodic and really, really fucking sexy.

"You're Jon? Jon Lane Kent?"

"Laney", Laney said immediately. "Jon's my little brother."

Jake, who had stopped crying the second Ryand'r entered the apartment, squeaked. "Lanny!"

"I see." Ryand'r stretched a hand out. "Is shaking hands customary with Kryptonians as well?"

"No idea", Laney said and grabbed Ryand'r's hand. "Half-human. Never been to Krypton, since it's, you know, a pile of rubble in space."

Ryand'r's eyes widened. "Apologies! I didn't want to erect sad memories, Laney.

'You're erecting something very different, dude', Laney thought and immediately slapped himself internally. It felt wrong to think about that when he carried a baby on his hip. "Chill. My dad didn't even witness it. Just a story for me."

"Very well", Ryand'r said. "I could not bear the thought of living on Earth knowing that Tamaran was no more."

Laney shrugged.

"Anyway!" The prince of Tamaran started smiling again and god it was almost blinding. "Thank you for watching Mar'i and Jake until I arrived."

The way Mar'i's name rolled off his tongue in the natural Tamaranean inflection sounded amazing. Laney felt bad for his niece, having to hear her whole Terran family butcher her name with their pronounciation.

"It's okay", Laney heard himself saying when looking back at the past three hours, nothing had been okay. Mar'i had puked because she had eaten too fast (gross) half an hour in, Jake had screamed half of the time and Laney had almost died when he had to change his nephew's diaper. Forget about Kryptonite, baby poop was just as lethal. "Jake ate like a combine harvester."

Ryand'r chuckled. Laney had to close his eyes for a millisecond to collect himself.

"He's garnering energy to start showing his powers", Ryand'r said and lifted Jake from Laney. He then said something to the child in Tamaranean and Jake giggled.

"Do you have their bag?", Ryand'r asked.

"Yeah, hold on." Laney zoomed into the heart of his flat, threw the kids' belongings into the bag Cassie had given slash thrown at him and dashed back into the entrance area. "Here."

"Thank you", Ryand'r said and slung the bag over his shoulder before fastening a baby carrier on his chest, all while holding Jake with one hand. A bionic limb from the elbow down, Laney noticed. "Laney."

Laney fought the gulp. "Don't sweat it."

Ryand'r nodded. "Can I use your balcony?"

"Uh. Sure."

Laney stepped aside to let the Tamaranean through and yep, that was definitely cologne. Shiiiiiit.

"Look out", Laney blurted out when Ryand'r stepped out on the balcony. "There's a granny stalking the neighbors from her flat in the opposite building. If you have a cover to keep."

Ryand'r grinned. "Please call an ambulance should she faint at seeing an orange man flying from your balcony."

And before Laney could react, Ryand'r had leaped into the sky and flew off.

Laney let out an incredulous huff.

"Fucker!", he yelled after him and he could swear he heard the Tamaranean laugh.

'I am so screwed.'

* * *

> **2.**

Laney had a team. He was an Outlaw, his team was Jason, Roy, Thad, Artemis and occasionally Kory. They kicked serious ass and looked good while doing, thank you very fucking much.

So why was he getting his ass handed to him by _Cassie fucking Sandsmark?_

"C'mon, Laney!", Cassie yelled and moved back into a defensive stance while Laney wheezed from where she had thrown him onto the mats. "Bad day? Or are you just getting worse?"

"Fuck right off", Laney growled and jumped back to his feet. If he was a mere human, he would be sore all over now. But even Cassie was not strong enough to do that. Wonder Woman, Troia or Artemis might be, but Cassie was not an Amazonian.

Cassie gave him a grim smile. "Try to make me, _Lamey_."

Laney roared and shot through the air, pivoting to deliver a kick that would have sent Cassie flying through the gym if she hadn't bent back at a near impossible angle.

Laney blinked when he realised that she wasn't bending back.

Cassie flipped over backwards and her foot slammed against his chin, sending him stumbling back again.

"Acrobatics?", Laney muttered and rubbed his jaw. "Not your style."

"I trained with Tim for years, bound to pick something up", Cassie said lightly. "Jason was a Robin, he flips around like a madman too. Why haven't you started doing that?"

"I can _fly_."

"So can I, and I still kicked your ass without doing it."

"Thin fucking ice, Sandsmark."

"I can _fly_", Cassie mocked him and shook out her fists. "C'mon, one more, maybe you'll actually land a hit!"

Laney stopped worrying his jaw and brought his fists up again. "Bring it, Wonder Girl."

His TTK shot out and grabbed her by the ankle.

"Hey!", Cassie yelled. "No superpowers, asshole!"

"Whoops", Laney called and threw Cassie in the air, who quickly caught herself and slammed her bracelets together in the trademark cross. The energy blast severed the grip of Laney's TTK and made him slam against the wall behind him.

He blinked and just barely dodged Cassie's punch that landed right where his head had been less than a second ago. Laney rammed his shoulder into her solar plexus, grinned when he heard her gasp, and threw her onto the mat.

Laney bowed over her, TTK always at the ready. "Who's kicking whose ass now, huh?"

A pair of calves wrapped themselves around his neck and before Laney could pry them off, Cassie had thrown him onto the mat, the Lariat shooting out to secure his wrists.

"I'm still kicking yours", Cassie said smugly.

Laney opened his mouth to spew something back, but the sound of laughter cut him off. His mind clicked when he recognised the voice and he immediately twisted to look at the newcomer.

"Hello?", Cassie said, skeptical. "Who're you? Starfire's brother?"

"That's right!", Ryand'r, Prince of Tamaran, said and came closer. "You, Cassie Sandsmark, are an impressive warrior!"

Cassie's skepticism faded a little. "Not hard to beat this loser."

Laney ground his teeth and threw Cassie off with his TTK, unwinding the Lariat in a matter of blinks.

"You landed a few lucky shots, ass", he snapped and Cassie flipped him off from where she was hovering in the air. "And you!" He jabbed a finger against Ryand'r's chest and fought a gulp when he felt the hard muscle beneath. "What're you doing, laughing at me, huh? How about you beat me first? If that'll ever happen."

Ryand'r, to Laney's absolute frustration, didn't seem intimidated. His face was serious and he cupped Laney's hand where it was at his chest. Laney hoped the flush could be blamed on training but judging from Cassie's snicker, she knew better.

"I would not make the mistake of sparring with you while you're angered", Ryand'r said solemnly. "The warlords of Okaara have taught me to avoid such fights if possible."

"The warlords of Okaara were pussies, then", Laney muttered under his breath and yanked his hand free with more force than he had meant to use.

Thankfully, Ryand'r hadn't seemed to hear his mumbling. Right. Super hearing was not part of Tamaranean physiology.

"If you like to spar", Ryand'r said, "I would be willing to give you a solar burst. We should be on the same levels of strength."

"You implying you're stronger than me right now?", Laney snarled and the thought shouldn't be so hot, what the fuck. He switched to Kryptonese. "<I'd let ya throw me around in bed, but sure as fuck not in train—?!>"

A hot, insistent mouth pressed onto his and Laney's brain fried before booting again and pushing the Tamaranean away with enough force to send him flying.

"What the fuck?!", he sputtered and covered his mouth. Cassie, the little bitch, was still snickering from where she was working out with the dumbbells now.

"<I always wanted to learn the language of Krypton>", Ryand'r said in Kryptonese and touched down. "<Unfortunately, it is near impossible to learn with conventional methods and we believed all Kryptonians were deceased for decades. Thank you for this.>"

Laney's eyes were wide.

"And you're welcome for the solar boost", Ryand'r continued in English with a twinkle in his entirely green eyes.

Laney blinked and his hand flew to his jaw. It wasn't throbbing from Cassie's kick anymore and the sore feeling on his wrists from the Lariat had also faded. He could _feel_ his TTK being stronger than before and the familiar thrum of solar charge in his body.

"Thanks", he said and Cassie dropped the dumbbell behind him.

"Sorry, did Jon Lane Kent just _thank_ somebody?", she called.

"Mind your own business!", Laney called back. He turned back to Ryand'r and his stomach flipped in excitement and something else.

"<Wanna spar on the roof?>", he asked in Kryptonese, still a bit hesitant of Tamaraneans' abilities to learn languages through one single kiss.

Ryand'r smiled brightly. "<Definitely.>"

* * *

> **3.**

Being half-kryptonian had its perks. Heat vision and cold breath were pretty sweet, especially if coffee had gone cold or was way too hot for people to believe he could drink it without having to be delivered to the ER. Invulnerability was amazing, though it was super hard to hide sometimes. Super hearing was a curse when you didn't pay attention — accidentally listening in to people having sex was not really great. X-ray vision? Extremely practical. Super-speed? Bless that. Super-strength? Pretty dope as well.

But flying, flying was Laney's favourite of his powers, even if he told people it was tactile telekinesis. Sure, his TTK was extraordinary even for a Kryptonian because Kal-El didn't have it, but Laney just liked flying up, so far up that he could see the continents, and just relish in the silence and weightlessness.

Laney hovered in the stratosphere and watched as half of Earth was starting to disappear into the shadowy side. Metropolis still had daylight, so Laney had time until Lois would start worrying.

It didn't matter that he was 24. His mother had lost him for 14 years and Laney knew that she wanted to make up for lost time. He also knew that he hurt her by being stubborn about it and part of him hated himself for it.

Laney sighed and watched a green streak shoot up somewhere in Missouri. Hal Jordan leaving from Central City for a mission, probably. His unofficial surrogate son Kyle joined the Outlaws every once in a while for missions when he wasn't too busy bringing the universe to order as a Green Lantern (or White Lantern right now? Honestly, who even knew, Kyle changed rings like Bruce Robins).

Laney started his descent. Maybe he'd stay the night at one of Red Hood's safehouses that the Outlaws used as well. Or he'd head back home, have dinner with Lois and go to bed early. Going to Smallville and spending the night with Chris, Thara and the kids was also an option, but a noisy one. Well, he had more than enough time to decide.

Or he could visit the Justice League of China. He got along well enough with Chenglei, but on the other hand, that would probably mean having to help take care of Kenan's and Avery's newborn super-speedster triplets. And Laney wasn't really in the mood for that. He liked Lian well enough, and Mon's kid was kinda cool too, but once baby Martha would start to develop her powers, everything would get so much harder.

Laney zoomed down to the US, to Illinois and set course to Chicago. When he focused, he could hear Ry's thrumming heartbeat there, much faster than a human's and more of a hum than a rhythmic beat. They had become friends over the past year, though Cassie still asked whether they had boned already every other day.

(No, they hadn't, to Laney's sorrow.)

Laney touched down on the terrace of Ry's ridiculous penthouse, paid for with Tamaranean gold that was about five times heavier than Terran gold and thus had much, much more value.

"Hey!", he yelled and knocked against the glass door leading inside. "Open up!"

A familiar head poked out from the kitchen and Ry's face lit up with a bright smile that was almost contagious even to an eternal resting bitch face like Laney's.

"Laney!", Ry called and walked over to open the glass door. Laney almost choked on his own saliva when he saw Ry's get-up. The Tamaranean wore what could only be described as booty shorts and a crop top. "I didn't expect you."

Laney tore his eyes away from all that exposed skin and walked inside. "Was in the area. Thought I'd drop by. You busy?"

"Just cooking", Ry said and nodded to the kitchen where something was smelling very burnt. So he took after Kory in the culinary department. As if on cue, the smoke alarm started blaring.

"Oh no." Ry dashed back into the kitchen, giving Laney a second to ogle his ass before following him. Some weird green-yellowish slime was pouring over a pan on the stove, smoking worse than Churchill.

"What did you try to _do?_", Laney asked while Ry disabled the smoke alarm and turned the stove off.

"Paella", Ry said and mournfully stared at the ruined food in his pan.

"There's no rice though?"

"I didn't have rice."

Laney gave him a flat look. "You wanted to do paella... without rice? The fuck, dude?"

Ry shrugged and moved to scrap the burnt food remnants into the bin. "It didn't work out, I know that now."

Laney actually felt bad at his friend's defeated look so he gave him a shove with his TTK. "Quit whining. There's this Spanish place in Metropolis that has bomb paella."

Ry cocked his head. "Are you suggesting we go?"

A smug grin spread on Laney's face. "Last one there pays the bill!"

He pushed himself off the ground, into the air and shot into the sky, finding the course to Delaware. The wind whipped his face and he tuned out the roar of it to focus on Ry's heartbeat again, an excited thrum not far away from him. He glanced over his shoulder to see the Tamaranean catch up, dreads fluttering in the wind and the crop top looking like it would fly off any moment.

Laney grinned and sped up, faster until he could hear the sonic boom. Ry's figure got smaller behind him, but Laney could hear his laughter against the wind and it filled him with an unusual, almost giddy sense of excitement. Laney let out a whoop and flew a loop at superspeed and Ry laughed again, clear and melodic.

Laney touched down on the Daily Planet building first, of course. Kryptonians were faster than Tamaraneans. He was almost out of breath and the grin on his face felt stupid, but it didn't go off.

Ry landed three minutes later, panting with exertion but beaming like the sun.

"You pay", Laney said and pushed his hair back where it had escaped the half-up, half-down ponytail.

Ry let out a breathless laugh and put his hands on his hips. "Obviously."

Laney jerked his head towards the street. "Paella's down there, let's go." He turned to jump on the opposite, much lower roof, but an almost scalding hot hand grabbed his wrist.

"What?", Laney asked and gave Ry an impatient look. "Thought you were hungry."

"Just a minute", Ry said and his thumb was rubbing circles on the soft inside of Laney's wrist.

Laney's heart skipped a few beats and then started beating with renewed fervour, so loud he was sure Ry heard it as well. "Okay."

He glanced at the Tamaranean, took in the sharp lines of his broad face, the golden shine where sunlight hit his green eyes. He briefly wondered if all of his skin was as hot as his hands. If his orange dreads were coarse like human's or if it was soft like Kory's anyway.

Laney was suddenly hyperaware of everything. The thrum of Ry's heartbeat was humming in his ears, the faint scent of what seemed to be coconut shower gel nearly made him dizzy. What seemed to be unmarred orange skin at first glance had tiny scars on it, almost unnoticable paler.

"Are you going to kiss me or what?", Laney grumbled and Ry grinned.

"If you need a solar boost, you should just say so."

Laney rolled his eyes. "Are you really this fucking dense?"

Ry chuckled and dipped down, grazing his lips over Laney's in a brief kiss. "There. Happy?"

Laney huffed and started floating to get to the same height as Ry. "Like hell."

Ry laughed and pulled him close, kissing him again and Laney's whole body tingled and it was not because of a solar boost.

* * *

> **4.**

Laney stared at the ceiling. It was the same as always. White paint. The sleek lamp in the middle. The scratch three inches next to it from a fight a while back.

'I just had sex with a Tamaranean prince.'

Laney tried to remember whom he had fought to get a scratch like that on his ceiling, in his bedroom. Or maybe he had just dreamed badly again and threw something up with his TTK in his sleep. Also possible.

'_I just had sex with a Tamaranean prince_.'

The shower stopped running next door and Laney wished he would unfreeze already. He had been staring at the ceiling for fifteen minutes now, half-blissed out, half-freaking out.

Because he had just had _sex_ with a _Tamaranean prince_.

It wasn't surprising. Cassie had already complained about their sexual tension. It had been a long time coming — really, ever since Ry had picked up Mar'i and Jake at this very place two years ago.

Two. Years.

The door to the bathroom opened and Ry waltzed in, naked as the day he was born safe for a towel around his neck.

Laney's dick gave an interested twitch, but he honestly needed a break before he could go again. He thought _he_ had super stamina — but boy, Ry easily matched him.

"Shower's free", Ry said and gave him a crooked smile before sitting on the bed again, obscenely long legs stretched out the whole length of Laney's bed. Laney shuddered at the memory of the sheer strength in those thighs, both wrapped around his waist and pressed against the back of his own thighs.

Laney nodded, but didn't move. They had cleaned up with tissues, but a shower was indisputable anyway. He was stretched out next to Ry, all tanned skin and tight muscle, propped up against the headboard.

"Laney?", Ry asked and a warm hand came to rest on Laney's thigh. Laney didn't flinch away from the touch, leaned more into it. "Is everything okay?"

"Is that something you do?", Laney asked. His body was still buzzing slightly with the afterglow. He couldn't remember the last time he had come so hard. Ry was strong, superhumanly so, he didn't break when Laney grabbed at his arm or yanked at his hair or got rough with him. He had even lost his grip on his TTK for a second, pulling Ry in with all he had. Laney really wasn't used to that.

Ry frowned. "What?"

Laney gestured vaguely. "Floating. While fucking."

Ry stared for a moment, then burst into booming laughter. His laugh was hot, but Laney crossed his arms, an eyebrow twitching in irritation.

"You done?"

Ry shook his head and wiped at his eyes. "Sorry— sorry. It just. Seems ironic."

"Ironic?" Laney frowned. "I didn't floa—" He stopped. There was one time, the third or fourth maybe, he had felt pretty weightless. Maybe that weightlessness hadn't been metaphorical. "Shit, did I?"

The Tamaranean snickered. "Yes, you did."

Laney groaned and knocked his head against the headboard. "Shit."

"I quite liked it."

"Yeah, I noticed."

Ry hummed and his hand on Laney's thigh started travelling up and down. Yup, that was definitely interesting.

'Not now, dick.' Laney immediately grimaced at his inner voice's choice of words.

"Is that a Tamaranean thing?", Laney asked instead.

"For some", Ry said, fingers still dancing on Laney's thigh. "Is it not for Kryptonians?"

"Kryptonians on Krypton couldn't fly or do any of the 'super' shit we do here, so I guess were freaks anywhere we go", Laney muttered. "And I'm not gonna start questioning my family on whether they like to levitate while fucking. Jesus Christ."

Ry cocked his head. "I forgot this was a taboo on Terra."

"What, flying while having sex? Kinda, since humans can't fly, remember?", Laney said dryly.

Ry rolled his eyes. "I'm well aware. I meant talking about sexuality."

"Oh." Laney bent his left leg and wrapped his arms round his knee. "Dunno. It's just weird."

"On Tamaran it's not."

"Yeah, on Tamaran you guys walk around covering the bare minimum of skin, too."

"Perfectly natural. The skin's purpose is not to be covered."

Laney couldn't help but feel painfully ignorant. "I suppose."

How did Ry even stand to be on Earth? They must seem like a bunch of stuck-up prudes.

Ryan turned onto his stomach and floated to hover above Laney, lounging on a pillow of air. This wasn't supposed to be as hot as it was.

Laney cocked an eyebrow. "You wanna go again?"

Ry winked. "I wouldn't be opposed."

Laney glanced down. "Yeah, your cock definitely isn't."

Ry inched closer and gently tugged at Laney's hip. "Hmmm, how about you join me up here then?"

Laney shook his head, but grinned and shot into the air, toppling Ry over so that the Tamaranean was floating on his back, Laney on top of him.

Ry's mouth was open in a silent "oh", then he started grinning as well.

Laney's last thought before his rational mind went out the window was that he definitely could start getting used to this.

* * *

> **5.**

  
Laney wasn't really a fan of the giant brunches at Wayne Manor every Sunday. But he had actually been looking forward to this one, simply because Jon was back from his six month volunteering program in South Africa (those Wayne connections really paid off). He was looking forward to it because it would mean that Kon finally stopped whining about Jon not texting a lot and partly because — not that he would ever admit it — he had missed the little bastard.

He hadn't expected _this_.

"Laney!", Jon called and suddenly, he had an armful of little brother.

Or rather, not so little anymore.

Laney automatically pried Jon's monkey grip off him and pushed him at arm's length.

'What the fuck.'

"This is a joke", Laney mumbled. "Did you get bone extensions?"

Jon cocked his head. "Uh, no. Just grew! There's a lot of sun down there. Guess that helped!"

Because Jon, who had stood at 5"8 when he left, was now Laney's height. Laney, who was 5"11.

"There's no fucking way you beanstalk grew three inches in South Africa", Laney snarled and looked straight into Jon's eyes. That was so unsettling. He was supposed to look _down_ on his baby sibling. The kid was _18_.

Jon grinned. "I did, though! Can't wait for Dami to see me like this!"

Now was probably not a good time to tell Jon that Damian was currently standing at 6"1. His growth spurt had hit late, but most of them had expected the little demon to grow some more — after all, Bruce was a giant and the men on Talia's side of the family tended to outgrow 6 feet as well. But oh well, Damian would only come home from Europe in a month.

"Jon?", someone called from upstairs and a second later, Cass stuck her head down. Her face lit up when she spotted her stepbrother.

"Cass!", Jon yelled and slammed into her, almost knocking her over. "I missed you!"

Cass laughed and squeezed Jon's nose playfully. "Me too."

"Is that Jon?", a male voice called from the same direction. "YO JON!"

Cass stepped away just in time for Billy and Terry to barrel into their brother and tumble them down the stairs with a war cry if not for Jon's flight.

"You ass", Billy said, grinning like a madman, and gave him noogies that Jon endured with a laugh. "You said you'd facetime every weekend!"

"That's how important we are to you, huh", Terry said with a mock mean expression and stuck his wet pinky into Jon's ear, making him yelp. "Yeah, serves you right!"

"Sorry, sorry!", Jon gasped and pried his brothers off. "Won't happen again, promise. Man, I missed you guys. Where's Matty?"

"In bed, the lazy bum", Terry said and rolled his eyes. "Pretty sure Jason's gone in there to wake him up."

Jon shuddered. "Cold rag?"

A horrified shriek followed by cackling laughter answered the question.

"Cold rag", Cass said and nodded solemnly.

Laney rolled his eyes at the foot of the stairs. "Yeah, yeah, cold rag, can we go eat now? I'm starving and you little shits are blocking my way."

"You can fly though?", Terry said.

"I can also bowl you down the hallway, wanna test that?"

"I'd give you five bucks, McGinnis", Billy shot.

"Ten!", Terry shot back.

"Seven, last offer."

"Sorry, dude, ten or nothing."

"I hate you", Laney grumbled and elbowed his way upstairs to cross into the East Wing of the Manor where the Great Dining Hall, standard location of their Sunday brunches ever since most of them had married and gotten kids of their own, was.

Jason, who had apparently already escaped from Matt's sleepy rage, slapped his shoulder in greeting. "You had to blow up that warehouse Friday night, right."

Laney rolled his eyes, but grinned. "Quickest way."

"Sure", Jason drawled before flopping into his chair next to Roy, who was apparently powernapping. Normally, Bruce would disapprove of such behaviour at the table, especially in Alfred's presence (yes, the Big Bad Bat was a daddy's boy), but as their Bat patriarch was currently nursing an impressive mug of coffee and sported half a beard and eyebags darker than Laney's humour, he probably didn't even notice. "Stole someone's thunder though."

"Roy's? He doesn't have a patent on blowing shit up", Laney gave the lightly snoring man a look. "Think he's fine. Where's Lian and Toby?"

"Outside, playing with the others." Jason jerked his head towards the giant windows from where you could look into the park. Bruce and Clark had installed various children's play equipment down there, making it a paradise for all of Laney's nieces and nephews. "Where's your boytoy?"

Laney glared. "Fuck off. He's not my boytoy."

"Are you procrastinating his official Superbat-Clan inauguration?", Chris asked from the other end of the table.

"Laney's a chicken!", Steph crowed.

"Stephanie", Bruce mumbled into his coffee and directed his bleary gaze at her. "Please. A bit quieter."

Laney turned to Duke and mouthed 'hangover?'

Duke shook his head and mouthed back 'migraine'.

"B, Dick and Wally had to cancel, Tommy's down with somethi— Laney!" Clark entered the dining hall and his face lit up when he spotted his son. He knew better than to come over and hug him by now. "Great! You could make it!"

"Why wouldn't I", Laney grumbled. "Jon's here, too."

That made Bruce peer over his mug. "Hn?"

"Articulate as usual, B", Clark said lightly and blissfully ignored the truly venomous look he received from Bruce at that. "I already greeted him and all a few minutes ago. I think _you_, dear, still need a few minutes to wake up before you're ready to welcome anyone back."

Bruce, fittingly, only grunted in response and sipped at his coffee again.

"Anyway, Dick's staying in Blüdhaven with Tommy, Wally's getting Irey and Jai to Linda's place so they don't catch whatever Tommy has", Clark went on and took his customary seat at the other end of the table, opposite Bruce. "Kory's brother will drop off Mar'i and Jake here, Mar'i wanted to see Helena at all costs and Jake Toby."

Laney froze.

"Ryand'r is coming?" Kara perked up. "Hey, that's great! I haven't seen him in months."

"Isn't that your boyfriend, Laney-Maney?", Thara called and suddenly, all eyes were on him.

"Laney's boyfriend?", Billy called, because of course the three boys and Cass had chosen this exact moment to come back into the dining hall.

"Who'd ever bone _you_", Match grumbled and Laney flipped the bird at him, only resulting in making is brother smirk.

"We have the same fucking face, asshat."

"Laney, c'mon", Chris said with a sigh and bounced baby Tess on his arm. "There's a kid."

"As if she understands what that means", Laney said and rolled his eyes.

"Can we go back to how Laney's apparently boning Koriand'r's brother?", Harper called and Laney shot her a foul look. "Who even knew they were a thing?"

To Laney's absolute horror, way too many hands went up. Billy, Jon, Cass, Steph, Duke, Babs, Chris, Thara, Kara, Clark, Bruce, even Roy. Only Bran, Terry, Matt, Harper and Nick hadn't raised their hands.

"How?!", he said through clenched teeth. He had only told Chris and Duke, his favourite siblings. Cass probably found out through his body language around Ryand'r. Babs and Bruce had their ways. Chris had probably told Thara, the traitor. And Ry had probably told Kara. Someone had tattled to the others.

"Speak of the devil", Bran said suddenly and then Laney heard it too.

The trademark thrum of Ry's heartbeat.

The doorbell rang a second later and Laney yelled: "I'LL GET IT!", but his siblings were already running for the main entrance. Laney whirled around and the only one left at the table were Roy, who was napping again, and Bruce, who was now holding Tess with one arm while nursing his coffee with the other. Even _Clark_ had gone?!

"You fuckers!", Laney roared and zoomed downstairs, flying over the heads of his siblings and father to land at the front, right before they could buzz the door open.

"Stay back", he snarled.

"Aw, come on!", Steph complained. "You're not going to invite him to stay for brunch, so we have to do it!"

Laney's stomach clenched. "It's not that serious."

"Yeah, right", Thad said and rolled his eyes. "Not like you're drooling over him every time he shows up to check in with Kory."

If Thad hadn't been his friend and brother's boyfriend, Laney probably would have burned his eyes out.

"We'll behave!", Jon called from the back. "Promise!"

"Speak for yourselves", Jason said and grinned like the cat who caught the canary.

"Jay, come on", Duke said.

"What? Could be fun."

"Fun? It'll be fun when you eat my fist, Jas—", Laney snarled and cut himself off abruptly, when the main doors swung open, revealing Ry with a kid on each hand and a slightly confused smile on his lips.

"Hi?", he said and Mar'i immediately ran inside, screaming Helena's name, Jake toddling after her.

"Hi", Laney said, took the step outside and slammed the doors shut, ignoring his family's outcry of indignation. He secured the locks with his TTK before he turned to Ry. "Sorry. Told you they're obnoxious."

"Well, I haven't really seen them yet", Ry said with a half-smile. "Were those all of them?"

"No, the kids are all outside except for baby Tess and Roy and Bruce stayed in the dining hall", Laney muttered. "Dick, Wally and their kids cancelled and Damian's in Europe. Kon and Tim are on some YJ mission, Val's staying with my grandparents."

Ry's smile only grew. "I'd love to meet them, too, when they're available."

"What d'you mean, 'too'?", Laney asked and motioned for him to take flight. His non-super family was probably pressed against the door as they spoke. Ry caught on quickly and the two flew up onto the roof with practiced ease, their speeds matched thanks to many flights together.

"I mean", Ry said and leaned back against on the ridge. "This is not casual anymore."

Laney's stomach clenched and his heart started racing like crazy. "What."

Ry gestured between them, his smile turning hopeful. "I had hoped you saw this the same way. I'd like us to last."

Laney gulped and stared out at the vast grounds of the Manor. He could hear the kids shrieking in the garden. "I haven't.... actively thought about it. Shit." He ran a hand through his hair. He felt tense, like a bowstring. Goddamn, it was obvious that he was hopelessly in love with Ry. He had admitted it to himself a long time ago. But this relationship still seemed so surreal to Laney. He had talked to Lois about it, shit, he had actually _cried_ because he had been entirely clueless as to how the fuck he was supposed to make a relationship last. "I'm not good... choice for something like that."

"Good for me, I'm an adult who's making his own choices then, right?", Ry said and nudged his knee against Laney's thigh. "Hey. Laney."

Laney looked at his lap, feeling like the first time he had realised that Harvest was not his father and had used him like a tool — small and vulnerable.

"Lae", Ry said softly and Laney huffed at the ridiculous nickname of his nickname. "Can I have brunch with your family today?"

Laney took a long breath in. This was fine. This was _Ry_. Badass, beautiful Ry. If not him, who else would ever stand being with Laney for so long?

"Okay", he said and cleared his throat. "Okay, yeah, sure, what's the big fucking deal anyway, have brunch with my damn obnoxious fucking family."

Ry grinned. "You swear more when you're nervous."

"I'm not nervous!"

The Tamaranean laughed and planted a kiss on Laney's cheek. "Sorry! It's still true, though."

Laney rolled his eyes, but a smile was pulling at his lips. "Yeah, fuck you."

He pushed Ry off the roof and dove after him, his boyfriend not even screaming, just laughing until Laney almost joined in.

* * *

> **+1.**

  
Ry woke up to sunlight streaming through the gap in the blinds. A slow smile spread on his face and he shifted under the sheets to free his arms, rubbing at his eyes. Laney was still asleep, legs tangled with his and his cool body pressed against Ry's side.

Ry lifted a hand and brushed Laney's hair away from his nape to lay a soft kiss there, feeling the softness of human skin. Impenetrable by anything but Kryptonite, but still, so soft. Sometimes it was hard for Ry to understand that Laney was in fact bulletproof.

He looked at his boyfriend thoughtfully. Laney didn't look relaxed when he slept, Ry knew well enough that he tried to avoid sleep as much as the human side of his genes would let him to escape the ever present nightmares. Laney often woke up at night, not screaming or crying, but gasping for breath, shivering and drenched in cold sweat. The first time it had happened when Ry was there, Laney hadn't even let him comfort him.

"Stop staring", Laney mumbled and cracked his inhumanly blue eye open to give him a halfhearted glare. "Tryna get s'me sleep 'ere."

Ry smiled. "Sorry."

Laney huffed and closed his eye again, snuggling deeper into the blankets, his black hair soft against Ry's side.

Ry sighed and closed his eyes, focusing on the sounds downstairs. Donna was preparing a lunch box for Mar'i, asking her when she had decided to no longer like grapes. Jake, from the sounds of it, was slurping down cereal, with Kory telling him to slow down.

Ry was glad Kory had found love again and Donna was a wonderful person and amazing stepmother to Mar'i and Jake. The kids now had four parents and they loved it. Whenever Ry was at Kory's and Donna's house, he felt the urge to ask Laney to move in with him. He wanted that kind of domesticity with him.

Laney mumbled in his sleep and nuzzled against Ry's side. "Wha' time's it?"

"Bit after 7:30", Ry said and threaded his fingers into soft black hair.

"Fuck me", Laney groaned. "Way too early."

"We don't have to get up?"

Laney muttered something about breakfast, but eventually settled back into bed again, trailing lazy kisses onto Ry's shoulder.

The peace lasted about three minutes.

"RYAND'R! LANEY!", Mar'i yelled and hammered against the door. "GETUPGETUPGETUP! DONNA MADE BREAKFAST!"

Laney groaned. "Fuck."

Ry chuckled. "Thought you wanted breakfast?"

"Changed my mind."

"LA-NEY! RY-AN-D'R!", Mar'i yelled again and drummed her fists against the wood of the door. "Wake up!"

Laney slid down further under the blanket. "Murder's still illegal, right."

Ry gave him a shove. "You're not murdering my niece."

"My niece, too. In two ways", Laney muttered and sat up, fumbling with his pills on the nightstand. "Got water?"

Ry handed the bottle over and Laney washed down his meds. 'My niece in two ways'. The first way, obviously, was being Dick's stepbrother. The second way had to be their relationship. Ry's heart fluttered at the thought of Laney considering himself Mar'i's uncle from _that _side because that's how serious they were.

"You suck!", Mar'i crowed from outside.

"Mar'i!", Donna called from downstairs. "Language!"

"What?! Helena can say that stuff!"

"Well, Helena has big brothers that are a bad influence", Donna said. "Apologise to your uncles!"

Ry barely heard Mar'i's mumbled "sorry" before the eight-year-old ran downstairs again.

Ryan cocked an eyebrow at Laney. "I think_ you're_ the bad influence."

"My ass", Laney said. "Lena grows up with Jon, Damian, Billy, Terry and Matt more any of us older ones. My money's on Matt and Damian, the little devils."

"You're not an angel yourself", Ry purred. "I don't think an angel can be as kinky as you."

Laney stared at him, then burst out laughing. "Shit, did you really just say that?"

Ry grinned. "Yeah."

"Wow." Laney rubbed his cheeks, still chuckling. "For someone who likes it when I use my TTK during sex, that's pretty damn hypocritical."

Ry shrugged. "_You_ like it when i use my bionic hand for prep. You are definitely kinkier."

Laney shook his head and leaned over to give him a sloppy kiss. "Guess we're both kinda nasty. I'm getting breakfast."

Ry yawned. "Save a seat for me?"

Laney's face shifted into a dirty grin. "My lap's always free."

Ry threw a pillow at him and Laney left the room, his laugh echoing in the hallway.


End file.
